(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a smart parking assistant system (hereinafter, referred to as “SPAS”) and a method of controlling parking alignment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a parking alignment function that automatically corrects a direction angle of a vehicle and the distance between the vehicle and left and right objects by detecting the left and right objects.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A driver uses SPAS for aid in parking a vehicle in a parking space. The SPAS may provide a perpendicular parking assist function as well as a parallel parking assist function. In particular, the perpendicular parking function provides a parking alignment to automatically correct a direction angle of a vehicle and distances between the vehicle and left and right objects by detecting the left and right objects when the vehicle enters a parking space. To perform the parking alignment function, repeated forward and backward movement of the vehicle is required. When a distance and a direction angle of the system become reference distance and direction angle margins, respectively, parking support is terminated.
Presently, the parking alignment function is not logically separated and implemented from the perpendicular parking function. Accordingly, when it is determined that the SPAS needs an operation of the parking alignment function, although a driver determines that the operation of the parking alignment function is not necessary for completion and termination of parking support, the SPAS performs the parking alignment function regardless of the intention of the driver.
to terminate the perpendicular parking function without parking alignment, the driver must perform an operation which a system may determine an abnormal condition such as a forced operation of a steering wheel controlled by the SPAS to terminate the perpendicular parking function. However, when an alignment reference determined by the driver is different from a reference of the SPAS, the driver feels inconvenience that results in deterioration of the productivity of the SPAS. Further, after the driver manually performs perpendicular parking, the drives may wish to use the SPAS for parking alignment. However, such a selective function is not provided.
The above information disclosed in this section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.